The wards could still be there for the lucky players that can win them with extremely low odds. The instanced housing would be for the rest of the players who couldn't move into a ward so that every player at least has a house and then they can more to a ward one day if they like and are lucky enough.
Basically this solves the problem of only a handful of players being allowed to own a house while the majority of players are excluded from a major game system.
I am pushing for ALL players to have a house not just some lucky ones.